In 1978, when Kamakshi Subramaniyan returned from Delhi to Chennai she was disgusted with the city's condition. She began a crusade for civic governance and responsibility . From encroachers to those felling trees to fleecing autorickshaw drivers -she has taken them all on, but she will be remembered most for helping save Schmidt Memorial on Elliot's beach.

On Saturday , Kamakshi, 87, was felicitated for her efforts to restore the memorial that is three years younger than her.The Reach Heritage Awards, 2014, were also presented to Kirit Mankoti, journalist T S Subramanian, M Senguttuvan and V Chandrasekhar of Hin
du Aalaya Padukaapu Kuzhu, Kerala-based NGO Dhyanasankalpam, and S Vijaykumar of poetryinstone.com. C Rangarajan, former chairman of the Prime Minister's economic advisory council, gave away the awards and citations to those who have worked toward preserving heritage structures, art and idols.

It took more than two years for Kamakshi to bring to the government's notice the need to restore the white structure on the beach, that had over time became a garbage dump, a toilet and a haven for anti-socials.

It was built in December 1930 in memory of Danish shipping employee Kaj Erik Gjolstad Schmidt who had given his life while saving a group of Britons from drowning. According to legend, one of the
rescued women attended a ball the next day. Madras governor Lieutenant Colonel Sir George
Frederick ordered construction of a memorial for Schmidt. “This is the face of
Besant Nagar. When we started the locality-based civic forum Spark, my colleague, marine biologist T D Babu, and I knew we wanted to start from here,“ said Kamakshi.

She approached the city corporation, PWD and Archaeological Survey of India but, initially, none of them was willing to take responsibility .She persisted and the corporation finally took up restoration work last November with technical help from IIT-Madras and Reach Foundation. In September, the renovated structure was inaugurated by Danish ambassador to India Freddy Svane who has promised to contribute to preserving the monument.

Of the other awardees, Kirit Mankoti was honoured for his effort in preventing the smuggling of many sculptures and idols out of the country . He created a website, plundered past.in, which compiles a list of missing antiques. M Senguttuvan and V Chandrasekhar of Hindu Aalaya Padukaapu Kuzhu was awarded for their work in restoring several water bodies in Chidambaram, while Kerala-based Dhyanasankalpam, run by Harikumar Chelli and Sasi Edaravad, retrieved the lost art of mural painting and taught school children.

Reach Foundation managing trustee T Satyamurthy said starting a course on Art History was on the anvil.